The Minor League Cricket 2026 playoffs began on Wednesday, October 21, at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston. Four Super 8s group games were played on the first day, and youth players stood out in all of them, led by Ali Sheikh‘s unbeaten 66 off 25 balls, with eight sixes, for Chicago Kingsmen, George Baldwin‘s 3 for 33 for Morrisville Raptors and four dismissals behind the stumps from Prannav Chettipalayam of Baltimore Royals.
This roundup covers Day 1. Each team plays three group games through Friday, October 23, and the Championship Final is on Sunday, October 25. See our guide to the 34 youth players in the playoffs.
Youth highlights
Every youth player we track who scored 20 or more runs or took three or more wickets on Day 1, best performances first.
Batting
| Batter | Runs (balls) |
|---|---|
| Ali SheikhChicago Kingsmen · v Los Angeles Lashings | 66* (25) |
| Prannav ChettipalayamBaltimore Royals · v Manhattan Yorkers | 23 (19) |
| Amrinder GillManhattan Yorkers · v Baltimore Royals | 21 (13) |
| Ekamnoor SandhuMorrisville Raptors · v NJ Somerset Cavaliers | 21 (19) |
| George BaldwinMorrisville Raptors · v NJ Somerset Cavaliers | 21 (29) |
Bowling
| Bowler | Figures |
|---|---|
| George BaldwinMorrisville Raptors · v NJ Somerset Cavaliers | 3/33 (4 ov) |
Three more young bowlers kept things tight. Ekamnoor Sandhu took 1 for 14 from four overs for Morrisville, with 16 dot balls, and teammate Ansh Rai took 2 for 25, also with 16 dots. For Baltimore, Aaryan Batra took 2 for 25 from three overs.
Fielding highlights
- Prannav Chettipalayam (Baltimore Royals): four dismissals as wicketkeeper, three catches and a stumping, in the win over Manhattan Yorkers.
- Rahul Jariwala (San Ramon Grizzlies): two catches as wicketkeeper against Dallas Xforia Giants.
- Saharsh Shwethan (Morrisville Raptors): a stumping against NJ Somerset Cavaliers.
All results: Wednesday, October 21
- Dallas Xforia Giants 210/4 (20 ov) beat San Ramon Grizzlies 176/8 (20 ov) by 34 runs. Smit Patel 108* (55) for Dallas; Zahid Zakhil 88* (57) for San Ramon.
- Baltimore Royals 219/4 (20 ov) beat Manhattan Yorkers 179/9 (20 ov) by 40 runs. Sharad Lumba 73 (46) and Rishi Dhawan 51* (21) for Baltimore; Sarbjeet Ladda took 3 for 36.
- Chicago Kingsmen 248/4 (20 ov) beat Los Angeles Lashings 184/4 (20 ov) by 64 runs. Tajinder Singh Dhillon 111 (48) for Chicago; Jack ORourke 66 (32) for Los Angeles.
- NJ Somerset Cavaliers 139/9 (20 ov) beat Morrisville Raptors 124 (19.3 ov) by 15 runs. Waleed Khan 41 (36) for NJ Somerset; Mukhtar Ahmed 36 (23) for Morrisville.
Follow along
Group games continue on Thursday and Friday, and the Championship Final is on Sunday, October 25. The playoffs are free to attend, and matches stream on the MLC Network. For the full schedule and every youth player in the eight squads, see our playoff youth players guide.
Got a highlight? If your child is playing in the playoffs and had a big moment, email it to info@usayouthcricket.com with the team and match. We check every one against the official scorecard before it goes up. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Sources
All results and figures are from the official Minor League Cricket scorecards at minorleaguecricket.com. Youth players are those on our verified youth player lists.
USA Youth Cricket is an independent site and is not affiliated with Minor League Cricket or Major League Cricket. See our Disclaimer & Terms of Use.